I’m exceedingly thankful for libraries. AND for librarians, who rank up there w/ superheroes (& heroines) to me. From my first foray into the bookmobile (travelling books?? what magic!), to the Việtnamese American Association Library around the street from us in Saigon, to the dusty musty stacks in grad school, I have been faithful to libraries.

I have checked out the maximum number of books allowed and begged for more. I have cruised and pilfered the shelves reserved for ‘the big kids.’ In 4th grade, I checked outGone With the Wind. And even though the whole war to defend slavery seemed pretty dumb to me (still does, just FYI), I loved the history and the dresses… Scarlett seemed a bit whiney, even to a 4th grader, but oh well.

In graduate school, research librarians taught me how to research. Taught me how to cruise shelves — a skill dying w/ digitisation. And as an undergraduate, I even worked in a library. In the reserve room, in the stacks reshelving, for Mr. Miracle at the front desk. It was heaven: books everywhere and time to touch and read them.

So today I sing the praises of libraries and the librarians who are the gentlest of tyrants. If you haven’t been in years, get thee to a bibliotèque. They have computers now (for those who insist on Google), and movies, and music, and old TV shows on DVD, and the old reliable: books. The first portable entertainment device ~

Britton Gildersleeve

Britton Gildersleeve is a 'third culture kid.' Years spent living on the margins - in places with exotic names and food shortages - have left her with a visceral response to folks ‘without,’ as well as a desire to live her Buddhism in an engaged fashion. She’s a writer and a teacher, the former director of a federal non-profit for teachers who write. She believes that if we talk to each other, we can learn to love each other (but she's still learning how). And she believes in tea. She is (still) working on her beginner's heart ~